Swallowed In the Sea
by kab16
Summary: "Her screams could shatter the sun and send a ripple through still water. No one knows what to do with that girl." A collection of Finnick/Annie drabbles and one-shots.
1. Chapter 1

_**A/N: This is most likely going to be a short collection of Finnick/Annie drabbles and ficlets. They're all semi-related. It would be great if you could leave a review telling me what you think!**_

_**-Sarah**_

_

* * *

_

_Swallowed In the Sea_

_And I could write a song  
A hundred miles long  
Well, that's where I belong  
And you belong with me_

_And I could write it down  
Or spread it all around  
Get lost and then get found  
Or swallowed in the sea  
_

_-Coldplay_

Her screams could shatter the sun and send a ripple through still water. No one knows what to do with that girl.

The piercing shrieks slip through the crack between the doors and the weather proof windows are not enough to block it out. They wake me up at night and send shivers up my spine.

I shouldn't feel responsible. This isn't my fault. It's the capitol and the game makers and Snow. But I was her mentor and I saw the flicker in her eyes when that boy's head rolled to her feet. I saw her curled up in a ball with her hands covering her ears on the train ride back to four. Those images haunt me and I want nothing more than to take her in my arms and tell her its okay. Tell her that the way the games have affected her means she's human and I wish I could be more like her. I've spent lonely nights with more women than you could dream of, and none have ever made me feel the way that I do when I look at Annie, her green eyes wild and alight as she tries to figure out this world. I want to tell her that she's the sane one; it's the rest of us who are mad. And then I think about what Snow would do to her if he were to hear me now and I pull the blankets over my face, afraid to so much as think of the girl across the street. But I can't pretend not to hear the tortured cries coming from her very own victor's mansion that feels nothing like home.

I've been seeing flashes since her screaming started. A trident through a heart, blood splattering my face. The contorted faces of the dead as I retrieved my trident from their bodies and wiped the remains off on my shirt. It's like we never left the games at all.

Of course we haven't.


	2. Chapter 2

_**Well, this took me longer to get back to than I planned. Sorry! Regardless, I hope you enjoy! **_

_**-Sarah**_

* * *

_You put me on a line__  
__And hung me out to dry__  
__And darling that's when I__  
__Decided to go to see you_

_You cut me down to size__  
__And opened up my eyes__  
__Made me realize__  
__What I could not see_

_-Coldplay_

She's a blur of brown hair and green eyes against the backdrop of blue sea and sky.

"Annie!"

She never stops moving.

As soon as she's done rolling down the hill leading to the Victor's Village when I saw her, she jumps up and runs for the water.

"Annie!" I call again. I've whispered her name at night, letting it hang in the still air above my bed and then slowly fade away, but this is the first time I've said it with the intension of being heard since the games. I haven't even made contact with her since leaving the capitol two weeks ago. I haven't allowed myself to.

"Annie!" I'm sprinting now, the bags of bread and fish from the market forgotten.

She doesn't jump when she reaches the edge of the dock. She keeps right on running as if she's expecting some type of transparent floor to continue holding her up. And as she flails in the air and makes contact with the water, she's still trying to run.

I dive in after her. She's swimming straight down and it doesn't seem like she's intending to come back up any time soon. I grab hold of her waist and pull her to the surface. There's fear in her eyes, her arms thrashing as she tries to get away.

"They're after me," she screams. "They're after me!"

"Annie." I try to still her.

She's mumbling now, her eyes far away. "They're after me. They're after me. After me..."

"It's okay. Annie. Annie, look at me." I jerk her towards me. Too fast, too hard. I don't know what else to do.

The mumbling stops. The flailing ceases. I can see in her eyes that she's coming back. She looks right at me, those green eyes desperate. I don't know how to look away.

"I killed him," she whispers.

"No. _They _killed him. You, you were just surviving."

She shakes her head. "No. No, I did it. I killed him, Finnick."

My stomach drops. That might be the first time she's ever said my name. Back before the games, during training, she never really addressed me. Never seemed to think of me worthy enough for it.

And I realize then. I can tell her all I want about how it's not her fault, how it was the capitol, how she only did what she had to survive, but it won't make any difference to her. She knows it all, and it doesn't change a thing. She'll always see herself a killer, always see herself as inhuman as she used to see me-maybe still does.

"I know you did," I say softly, because I don't know what else I can do. "I did too."

She's still for a moment, those green eyes wide and staring into mine, and then she throws her arms around me. I'm not expecting the sudden weight and we almost slip under, but we make it back up. I readjust my arms around her, holding her close and stroking her hair, treading with my legs.

"It won't ever go away, will it?" She whispers into my neck. I shiver at the feel of her words. "What are we supposed to do? What are we supposed to do? It won't ever go away..."

"We'll make it through," I say, loving how she's saying _we, _how she's grouping us together. How, finally, she's seeing us as a team. "We've survived worse, haven't we?"

I can feel her violently shaking her head. No, of course not. Not for her. Not even the games can compare to her guilt.

And it hits me all at once then, with her pressed against me and her head shaking and her arms tight around my back like I'm the only thing she's got to hold on to. Hits me hard, like a trident straight through the bones. Regardless of Snow. Regardless of the job he's given me and all he can do if I defy him.

I'll never be able to stay away.


End file.
